Page 200 of Original Sin

Slowly, sadly, he took a step toward her and took her into his arms.

‘I’m sorry too,’ he whispered. ‘I really am.’

CHAPTER SIXTY–EIGHT

By the time Tess got back to the party, most guests had left the tables. Some were laughing and drinking champagne in the garden, others had begun to drift back to their hotel rooms. Looking around for Sean, she saw a glint of rich red hair. Paula Asgill was sitting alone at a side table, staring down

into her coffee.

‘Paula,’ she smiled, walking over. ‘I haven’t seen you in two weeks.’

Paula looked up and smiled. ‘No, there’s been lots to do. Lots to think about,’ she said with unexpected warmth.

Tess was pleasantly surprised; Paula’s demeanour had always been so prim and icy, but there was softness around the eyes that hadn’t been there a few weeks ago. Perhaps not every crisis was a bad thing, she thought.

‘Did you get my interview with Metropolitan magazine arranged?’ asked Paula.

Tess nodded. ‘Next week, it’s all set. Full copy approval.’

Alongside everything else she’d had to do over the last few weeks, Tess had set up an interview for Paula with Metropolitan, a smart society read that ran puff–pieces alongside glossy photo–shoots of all the Park Avenue Princesses who mattered. Tess had struck a bargain with Shelley Vine the editor; she would get a scoop that would reverberate all around Manhattan, as long as she promised to treat Paula and her family in the most sympathetic manner possible. Tess could tell that Paula just wanted to get her story out there, to finally be free of the burden, but, having talked to Shelley, Tess genuinely believed that Paula could come out of it unscathed.

‘Well, thanks for everything, Tess.’

‘I was just doing my job.’

Paula shook her head, meeting Tess’s gaze. ‘No, it was more than that.’

‘So what happens now?’ said Tess, a little embarrassed. ‘I hear that William is stepping down from the company.’

‘Yes, from the CEO job at least. Leonard wants to retire in the new year, so William might take on his international development role, but we’ll see,’ she smiled again. ‘The emphasis is on our own little family for the moment. We’re buying a house in North Carolina, maybe somewhere near the mountains. I think it will be good for both of us to spend more time out of the city. I’m not sure that fierce competition and stress is particularly good for you, especially when we want to try for another baby.’

Tess was amazed to see Paula’s face glow at the thought of it. Tess had always thought of Paula as a particularly hard creature but, in the end, it turned out she was just running away from her demons. It wasn’t difficult to see what the trauma of having to deal with a disabled daughter would do to a young girl with no support network, but the endless acidic guilt of having abandoned her must have eaten away at her year after year. Perhaps Paula was harder than she had given her credit for, thought Tess as she excused herself and went to the bar for a martini. She took out the olives and knocked the drink back in one, steeling herself for what she had to do next.

‘There you are.’

Turning, she saw Sean. ‘What’s up?’ he said, his big green eyes searching hers.

Dammit, am I that transparent? Tess thought.

‘Oh, nothing,’ she replied dismissively. ‘I just needed to speak to Leonard. Have you seen him?’

‘He went back to Jewel Cay on the boat with my mom about ten minutes ago,’ said Sean. ‘Honey, are you okay?’

No, I’m not okay, she thought, averting her eyes. She had been unable to settle all day, debating over and over in her head whether to act on the information she had pieced together on Olivia Martin’s disappearance. Her first instinct was to tell Meredith and let her sort it out; after all, that was her job, wasn’t it? But then how would Meredith feel about her publicist accusing her brother of killing Olivia? And, assuming it was true, would she really want to know after all these years? More importantly, how would Sean feel about it? At best it would create a family rift, at worst … well, she didn’t want to think about that. Anyway, it wasn’t as if Tess had any real proof about what happened on the night of Meredith and Howard’s wedding and, even if she did, what real purpose would it serve to dredge up old secrets that would cause the family so much pain? Certainly it would not help Brooke and David, whose private lives she was being paid to protect. But – and this was what Tess kept coming back to again and again – what if this was murder? If Leonard had killed Olivia, how could she keep that secret to herself: just file it away under ‘unpleasant truths’? She didn’t know Olivia or her family, but she did know that if she had been in a similar situation, she would want to know the truth about her loved ones, even if was difficult to bear. And that was the final twist, of course: Meredith had married Howard for social convention and companionship, but her heart had belonged to Olivia. Surely she would want to know what had really happened? But at what cost?

Tess forced a smile on her face. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t be long.’

She leant forward and kissed him on the lips. For one second, she wanted to wrap herself in his arms, tell him everything, let him help her. But that was a cop out. This was something she had to do herself.

‘Can I come to your room later?’ he smiled lazily.

‘I’ll be waiting,’ she said, hoping against hope that, by then, things would not have changed irrevocably.

*

Tess was the only person on the small boat ferrying guests to and from Jewel Cay. Sitting in the darkness, she watched the lights strung from the masts of the million–dollar yachts moored at the hotel’s dock get smaller and smaller. The short journey across smooth waters still made her stomach churn; maybe that Martini was not such a good idea after all, she thought, hopping onto the jetty. The house in front of her looked like a huge ghostly face – the glowing windows its eyes and nose, the double–fronted oak doors a gaping mouth, and suddenly Tess thought about taking the boat straight back to the hotel and climbing into bed with Sean.

Be brave, she scolded herself. You’re almost there. A maid smiled as she opened the front door and pointed towards the east wing of the house. Tess could hear gentle classical music coming from the drawing room and through the open doorway, could see Meredith and Rose and Robert Billington laughing over champagne. She moved away before anyone saw her: Leonard wasn’t with them. Over the past twenty–four hours she had got to know the layout of Jewel Cay well, so she walked across to the other wing of the house. The corridors were dark, but light was spilling from the far room that Tess knew was Leonard’s study. Quietly approaching, she peered around the door of the room, a hexagonal space with long windows and wood–panelled walls decorated with maps and nautical paintings. Her pulse jumped as she saw Leonard sitting behind a huge sea–captain’s desk.